The City of Richardson has been named a winner of the 2012 Working for Clean Air Award in the public sector under 1,000 employees category. The recognition was given at the 8th annual Working for Clean Air Awards reception on Nov. 1, at the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas, where EPA Region 6 Administrator Ron Curry gave a special keynote address. State Rep. Linda Harper-Brown and energy entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens also gave remarks celebrating the clean air accomplishments of the City of Richardson and other winners.

“We are extremely honored to be recognized by the North Texas Commission for our efforts to protect air quality in the North Texas region,” said Richardson Mayor Bob Townsend. “The Working for Clean Air Awards is a great way to bring together businesses and municipalities in the region who are all champions of this important cause. We are proud of our community’s efforts to be a leader in this area.”

The Working for Clean Air Awards program, administered by the North Texas Commission (NTC), recognizes area organizations that “demonstrate outstanding efforts to improve local air quality.” The City of Richardson was chosen from more than 30 organizations that applied for award consideration. Richardson was one of only three Metroplex cities that received a Clean Air Award.

Richardson earned recognition for its noteworthy air quality-related initiatives, which include:

The City’s in-house carpool and vanpool ride matching program, which allows employees to find out about carpool and vanpool options on the City’s intranet.

The City subsidizes 50 percent of DART passes for employees and offers free shuttles from Richardson-area DART stations.

The City implemented a plan requiring that all new buildings within Richardson have to be built with minimum LEED certifications.

The City has two electric car charging stations at the Huffhines Recreation Center that are available to the public.

The NTC is a regional non-profit consortium of businesses, cities, counties, chambers of commerce, economic development entities and higher education institutions in the North Texas region. The NTC improves the economic vitality, infrastructure and lifestyle of North Texas by marketing the region, promoting collaboration and advocating on critical issues.